New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds return to Paramount+ on July 17, 2025. New episodes will stream every Thursday through September 11, 2025.
Synopsis
In season three, when we reconnect with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, still under the command of Captain Pike, they face the conclusion of season two’s harrowing encounter with the Gorn. But new life and civilisations await, including a villain that will test our characters’ grit and resolve. An exciting twist on classic Star Trek, season three takes characters both new and beloved to new heights, and dives into thrilling adventures of faith, duty, romance, comedy, and mystery, with varying genres never before seen on any other Star Trek.
Review
It’s been almost two year since we last caught up with the crew of the USS Enterprise. The season 2 finale of Strange New Worlds streamed on August 10, 2023 and left an entire fanbase on the edge of their seats. With several key characters taken hostage by the Gorn, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and the remaining crew were left staring down the barrel of an invasion force. But finally those immortal Star Trek words have been spoken… “And now the conclusion.”
NB: For the purposes of this post we were given access to the first five episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3.
A lot is riding on the return of Strange New Worlds. After a two year absence, with the crew currently deep in to film on season 3. “Hegemony Part 2” marks the series first two-part story making up both sides of the seasonal break putting it in league with “Best of Both Worlds” and “Redemption”. Widely regarded as the best contemporary Trek series beside Star Trek: Picard, Strange New Worlds has a chance to level up with a season premiere for the ages. Luckily for us the second half of the story is a tense rollercoaster ride which perfectly compliments its predecessor.
It’s definitely worth a rewatch of “Hegemony Part 1” before diving in to the new season. Whilst the second half is easy to pick up, the refresher helps to place which members of the crew are in which predicament. After a mostly away-mission based first half, the second half moves the action in to space. Pitting the Enterprise against a huge army of Gorn ships. Whilst La’an (Christina Chong), Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and the surviving crew find themselves fighting for their lives on board one of those ships. The action alone sustains the entire episode. But as is traditional for Strange New Worlds, the series begins to setup storylines which recur throughout the episodes I’ve been able to see so far.
Strange New Worlds has carved a path for itself in Trek history as a series not defined by genre. Though nothing in the five episodes I’ve seen quite compares to “Subspace Rhapsody” aka the first Star Trek musical episode. This is still a series which refuses to be confined by convention. The first half of season 3 strides confidently from action-adventure in to comedy, in to period murder-mystery, horror and beyond. The experimentation the writers pride themselves on has never been bolder. The swings have also never been harder.
After putting almost the entire cast in mortal danger with the series premiere. Second episode “Wedding Bell Blues” leans in hard To the series comedic elements. The episode is Spock (Ethan Peck) centric but also shines a spotlight on Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) and her new love-interest Roger Korby (Cillian O’Sullivan). Korby was first established in The Original Series where he was played by Michael Strong. “Wedding Bell Blues” and later “Through the Lens of Time” setup the romance between the two characters whilst also giving closure to Chapel’s short romantic entanglement with Spock. “Wedding Bell Blues” is Strange New Worlds comedy at its finest. The episode plays in to setup from TOS but also TNG in surprising ways. Closing the loop on certain storylines giving them canonical connections which should please long-time fans.
Episode 3, “Shuttle to Kenfori”, circles back to earlier Strange New Worlds storylines. Though it takes the series to entirely new territory using traditional horror tropes. It taps in nicely to Dr. M’Benga’s (Babs Olusanmokun) ongoing storylines. Olusanmokun Is an unsung hero on the Strange New Worlds cast. His quiet, considered performance gives M’Benga such a noble quality. It’s something the writers love to test and do so both in “Shuttle to Kenfori” and “Through the Lens of Time”. Writing “Shuttle to Kenfori” as an episode mostly for Pike and M’Benga gives the series time to focus on a pairing we haven’t spent much time with in isolation. Anson Mount and Babs Olusanmokun have a similar approach to their dramatic work which compliments each other well in these scenes.
The fourth episode of season 3, “A Space Adventure Hour”, is one that many fans will be waiting for. Glimpsed in the season 3 trailers is offers the Strange New Worlds cast chance to play with a piece of Trek history which didn’t exist in the days of The Original Series. Suffice to say there’s a lot more nuance to the episode than fans have gleaned so far. The premise gives almost the entire core cast chance to have fun and play against type. It also gives Christina Chong the chance to spotlight La’an in an episode which isn’t weighted down with heavy emotional subtext. This season is certainly offering La’an to have more fun and lighten up. It’s not a drastic rewrite of the character. Her harder edge remains. But resolving her history with the Gorn really does give the character (and actor) the chance to explore sides of the character we’ve never seen before.
Reaching the half way mark, “Through the Lens of Time” brings together everyone at the centre of season 3’s storylines to solve a big science mystery. It’s an episode heavy on techno-babble which tests even the most seasoned cast member. But whilst it’s the most traditionally Trek episode (that’s a good thing), it also exemplifies the series incredible production. The scale of the sets, made possible by the series AR Wall tech, is impressive. The design work is reminiscent of a Borg cube and took me back to the days of matte painting extending what set pieces classic Trek series were able to afford.
Season 3 might feel like business as usual for Strange New Worlds. But the series continued dedication to its variety pays off in spades. It’s great to see characters like Ortegas featuring more prominently alongside Pike, Spock and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding). The latter of whom feels more at home in the ensemble than ever before. Whilst Uhura and Una (Rebecca Romjin) aren’t as prominent in these early episodes, their place in the ensemble cast is as strong as ever. There’s a little less focus on episodes having a de facto lead character. Instead season 3 episodes feel more like they have a featured player with the rest of the ensemble placed much more closely behind. With five more episodes to go there’s plenty of time for everyone to have their moment in the spotlight.
Production on season 3 remains impeccable. A revamped opening credit sequence is littered impressive new shots of the USS Enterprise in flight. Whilst “Hegemony Part 2” is the episode with the most space action there isn’t a shot out of place as the swarm of Gorn ships threatens our cast’s livelihoods. The new science lab set has seemingly replaced the Enterprise’s engineering room. The cavernous engineeering set has yet to appear in season 3 and feel suspicious in its absence. Particularly when new recurring OG character Scotty (Martin Quinn) is seen splitting his time between the transporter room and the lab.
Verdict
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is another home run for the series. Each new episode continues to impress with its versatility but in the writing and the performance of the cast. After a long absence the series goes from strength to strength as it explores new sub-genres in its quest to explore the galaxy.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
